Disclaimer

This Mobile Video Game is owned by their own respective company except for my OC

Note

I forget to elaborate clearly on this story in the first chapter:

This entire story is forcing an aspect of many of my different original characters. Think of it as a fate episode of entire characters of Grandblue Fantasy but replaced with my original characters and their own story would continue at some point. Whether they were Human, Draph, Primal Beast, Knight, Wizard, Commoner or other, it does not matter as long as it focuses on their own stories.

Aside from this, this chapter was way longer than the previous chapter but I can't guarantee this to be your liking. Like I warned in a previous chapter, my grammar is really bad.

If you spot any spelling or grammar errors, I tried to improve it.

Summary

A man, who was once both assassin and mercenary, spends his remaining free time before becoming a bodyguard for the princess. However, he eventually encounters her in the street but in person.

A clear blue sky filled with a white cloud and a gentle wind breeze throughout Alster Island, ruled by a small kingdom, Irestill. As. Many of both townsfolk and villagers were enjoying their day wisely as they were normally farming their crops to produce more food as a farmer or selling at a reasonable price as a merchant. While they were doing so, the imperial guards were guarding them against any sort of danger such as bandit, monster or worse, the primal beast. They were a pride of the kingdom to protect after regaining peace from defeating the monster.

This was all started with the last King of Irestill Kingdom, Conor, and his foolish and selfish ambition. He was responsible for the collapse of his own kingdom by commending a knight to slay the true dragon, Deirde, who acted as a boundary to keep the monster in check, because of him being paranoid or upset by the growing popularity of his two children, Seruel and Heles. His action had taken many lives and caused the kingdom to descend into chaos. Many citizens were desperate to survive the monster attack. They were either trying to protect themselves or hiring anyone who was capable of protecting them but with a sacrifice of their own coins.

Fortunately, Seruel and Heles had returned to restore the kingdom with the unexpected help of skyfarers. As the Irestil kingdom regained peace, the siblings established a new government to rebuild their kingdom but with one step at a time. Everything on an island was peaceful even though there was still some problem as the rampaging monsters have on sight constantly.

In a hallway, a large but elderly man was walking at his pace. He had brunette hair, yellow round eyes, and freckles on his face. He was dressed in his rich but complex attire as he was a long time court of the Kingdom. He was confident but nervous to attend to Heles by himself for a proposal regarding hiring her new bodyguard which he was unwilling to do so. He was both a friend and teacher of her and Seruel since they were children being taught about both history and the old system before the chaos. He knew it was wrong of him not to discuss with her and them but he had to do so because they were stubborn, believing that they can protect themselves even though their friend, Naoise, was enough for being sort of their only bodyguard. He stopped in front of the door of her office. He breathed in and out to calm himself to be prepared. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but a sudden voice prevented him.

"Good morning, Court Nicholas."

Nicholas turned her head around to see a blonde maid who was more or less older than him. He simply greeted her with a respected tone, "Elisheba, and please do not refrain yourself from calling me a court title."

"Very well, Nicholas," Elisheba acknowledged Nichalos with a bow. She was his acquaintance since they first met before Heles and Seruel were born and a mother of Naoise despite the fact that she was currently not speaking with him due to Naoise's action unless she decided to. She continued, "If you're looking for Princess Heles, she was out for a walk in a town, but don't worry, she can take care of herself."

Hearing from Elisheba, Nicholas sighed while bowing in despair at the floor. He knew that Heles was a capable woman to protect herself as she was trained to wield a weapon and took care of her own health. However, he could not help himself to worry about her safety as he recalled the numerous times that she had either a bruise, broken bone, flesh wound but not deep or worse, she almost died. This was the reason why he had to make a proposal without her consultation because she was too headstrong to deny his proposal.

"Nicholas, Is there something wrong?"

Nicholas lifted his head to face concerned Elisheba and quickly brushed her concern. "Not to worry Elisheba. I'm just a little worn out but I need to know when will Heles come back?"

"I'm not sure but I assumed that she would come back once she finished her walk."

Nicholas groaned in annoyance at Heles's stubbornness but he cannot blame her for all the work that she had done for Alster. Her work had taken both of her time and effect to rebuild the Irestill Kingdom back to a proper state as it required her patient. He thought the stress from her work had reached the limits and forced her to take a break from all of her ongoing work.

"I'm sure that you're here to discuss with Heles about what you're doing without her consulting, am I right?"

"Unfortunately, yes, but it is a proposal that I need to be prepared for my upcoming consequences from her even though I'm her teacher and quite older than her."

"Fair enough but I'm curious about your kind of proposal?"

"Assisting her to have her new personal bodyguard."

The market street was crowded with many people who were either shopping to buy or walking around to see. From a stall selling delicious food attracting someone's nose with a good smell to shining jewelry accessories to catch someone's eyes. Its atmosphere gave them a lively feel to have a good time for a while. At the rooftop of the building, A young man was standing still to avoid falling while enjoying the overview of the market with his golden-yellow sharp eyes. His clothes were simple and common like others in a street but he wore a dark green neck wrap. His waist wrapped around by his belt attached with a shortsword sheath on his right and a dagger sheath on his back below. He scratched his short brown hair with his hand to ease a little itchiness from the gentle breeze.

'It's been almost eleven years since I was here in Irestil kingdom but now, it seems that everything went back to normal despite it already being damaged.' The young man thought about the kingdom. He wanted to tour around nearby towns and villages to see its current state with his own eyes and he would think he should go to see the kingdom right after touring. Speaking of the kingdom, I should waste my remaining free time wisely or else it would be wasteful for me to spend anyhow. I don't know why I accepted Nicholas's proposal yesterday?'

The young man sighed after remembering the previous day's event. His mouth, however, formed a little smile on his face as he looked up at the blue sky. He recalled what happened the previous night. 'Accepting to become the highness' personal guard, huh?'

1 Night Ago

A loud cheer and talking among the people in the tavern was great when it came to night time. Drunk or not, they were either having a blaze of fun to talk and celebrate or grieving to ease their pain from losing their valve, goal or those who close to them. The young man drank a sip of a beer and roughly placed it on the table with a bang. He was sitting in front of Nicholas who was also having a beer. They both have a good and normal conversation about the proposal that Nicholas had made.

"So let me get this straight: You made a proposal behind the highness's back to force me to become her guard because of your dumb reason?" The young man recalled what Nicholas told him.

"Yes, my reason is stupid but somehow reasonable, Callum," Nicholas said with a sigh. He was never accustomed to Callum's personality because he was already used to his old quiet personality when he met him as a child with his knight father, Fengus, at the palace during Conor's rule. He would think that his fake self was a cover of his true self but nevertheless, he was glad to see him again even though he may be a fool. "I was not hoping that you would take it as a joke."

"I don't see your reason as a joke, Nicholas, because you act like an overprotective uncle which may be a good thing but however Heles is capable of handling herself in any kind of dangerous situation so why are you hiring me?"

"I'm more worried about her well being as she may end up in the worst situation that she can't handle by herself and I can't think of the worst possible she could be. She will either be kidnapped, taken away by evil charm, or killed." Nicholas told Callum with a grim tone. "You're friends with her and her brother before you left, aren't you? So please don't force my hand to do something to make you accept my offer."

"Are you sure about that, Nicholas, because you may know about my former occupation?" Callum's tone changed to serious and his eyes looked at Nicholas with a questioning look. He was honestly doubtful with Nichalos's decision of appointing him as a bodyguard due to his past as being both mercenary and assassin before he laid low. He took a high-risk job where no one could including an assassination but now, he was just an ordinary traveler.

"I already knew about your line of work in the past but that's not a point, Callum. I'm not forcing but begging you for mine and the kingdom's sake including Heles's."

Hearing Nicholas' words, Callum relaxed and thought about Nichalos' offer. Being a bodyguard was going to be tiring and stressful for him but he could be wrong. He never saw or spoke with her for eleven years but he did send a letter to her many times. Many of his letters filled with his own life and questions about her well-being. However, she did not reply back but he was used to it, thinking that she already forgot about him. It could be his chance to visit her, Seruel, and Naoise, but it might be best for him to begin anew. He chuckled, confusing Nicholas and faced him with a smile.

"Alright then, I accept your offer as I will become her bodyguard."

Nicholas was at loss to think that Callum was very quick to accept his offer unlike all noble families or those who league with any kingdom that he heard from. He was clueless about what was in Callum's head telling him to accept his offer. Was it because he had nowhere to go, money problems or desire to see his old friend? While he was deep in his thoughts, Callum's voice snapped him to reality.

"Don't think too much or else you fall to sleep."

Nicholas looked at the smirking Callum, reminding himself that he was an impossible person to read or understand for himself. He sighed in triteness but later smiled. "I'm surprised that you accept my offer."

"Let's just say I have my own reason."

Both Callum and Nicholas grabbed their cups and lifted it up from the table. They then hit theirs to produce a clanging sound and drank hastily.

Present

Callum's eyes turned away from the sky and focused in front of him. He turned around to the right and began to run. As he reached the end of the rooftop, he immediately jumped off in the air towards another rooftop. He landed perfectly on his feet and continued running. He was never worn out from his footwork due to both of his training taught by Fengus's friend before his natural death and his experience in his former job. He, however, became mindful of his abilities for a day. It would be a waste if he was not careful with his abilities which could end up hurting himself.

While Callum was running, his eyes spotted a familiar person among the crowd in the street; A beautiful Erune woman with her silver whitish long braid hair in her royalty attire dress. He stopped at his track and squinted his eyes at her face. His gaze became clear to see it was Heles. He was silent to think that he 'accidentally' found her in the street. He thought she was busy in her castle to carry out her duty while making a plan for the change at the same time. Seeing her walk, he began to move cautiously to observe her movement while gathering a little information about her daily routine.

Step by Step, Callum was still following Heles's stroll while trying to be unseen from the people below in the street. He wondered where her path would lead him to but he was not sure if following a royalty member like her from above under daylight would get him to be mistaken as an assassin. It also might be wrong to dive through her privacy. He might get into trouble for this but one way to another, there was no turning back. He was curious to see what she was doing in her free time, not as a ruler but as a normal person.

As Callum followed Heles, He stopped at the edge of the rooftop to see an open area below in front of him. It was filled with a few trees scattered around and a water fountain at the centre. He believed he might be in the center of the town. He was glad to be here because he was originally going to reach the center of the town as his resting area after exploring. He tried to find Heles despite there being fewer people in the area until he found Heles speaking with the two knights.

"I wondered what they were talking about?" Callum mumbled. He had a chance to jump down and try to move closer to eavesdrop their conversation but he would not. He was only there to observe but after seeing her, he was a little disappointed that she was believed officially here as a ruler to check both the progress and safety of the town.

While Callum was watching, he suddenly spotted a group of assailants walking in the path below him. They were all dressed in different ruff clothing and they carried their weapons. He also noticed on his right to see three gunners moving to their positions in a vantage point in each rooftop to point at Heles and the knights. Without hesitation or thinking, he quickly lifted his neck wrapped to cover his both mouth and nose and began to run to the right. He had no time to think of his own life as Heles's life would be in danger. The more time his plan was made, the more chance for her life to end in a second.

While running, his left hand reached to the pouch and opened it. He took out a metal ball in his hand and slid down the rooftop. As his sliding reached to the end, his leg pushed his entire body forward to jump to the next rooftop. He grabbed the eaves with his right hand and steadied himself against the surface wall with both feet. He moved his left hand to the mouth and bit a pin on top to pull out. He then dropped it down to the path where the group was walking. The ball hit the ground, surprising them and immediately exploded, releasing smoke throughout the path.

Pulling himself up to his feet on the surface of the roof, Callum began to sprint towards the gunners' position while reaching his left hand to take his dagger out from its sheath on the back of his belt. The gunner's eye suddenly noticed him running towards him and hurriedly moved his whole body around to shoot, but unfortunately, he was too slow.

Callum round kicked a rifle off from the gunner's hand before it fired and kicked him again off the roof. He bent his left forearm back and swung towards with full force to throw his dagger at another gunner. His dagger successfully hit the gunner in the neck, forcing the gunner to trigger his rifle to fire early in pain. The blasting of the rifle was heard in the open area.

Sometime earlier

"Your highness," The sentries greeted as they bowed their heads at Heles.

"Any news about this area?" Heles asked, wanting to be certain if there was trouble in this area.

"Nothing so far, your highness. Everything in the street was peace as there's no commotion and no sight of the monster," The senior sentry replied.

"I see."

Heles felt a little relieved that the peace was still intact in the town. There was neither a report of a monster attack nor a mafia sight, but she cannot anticipate that the area was safe for the people to roam around. As if something foreseeable was going to happen. Not only the peaceful town, but she also felt a little nervous as if someone was watching her. However, the presence gave no ill intent but a tranquillity like someone watching over her and the aura was somehow familiar. She cannot quite put the pieces back to figure who was someone watching her despite she had once known someone in the past.

"Your highness, are you unwell?"

Snapped back to reality, Heles heard a concerned tone from the senior sentry and looked at him. She shook her head to ease him. "No, I'm alright but thank you for your concern."

"Your highness, May I intrude to point out something?"

Heles and the senior sentry turned to follow the young man's voice and looked at the second sentry. His voice was confident that he might be asking something related to their conversation. However, the old sentry began to nag at him, "Mind your manners in her presence, young recruit."

"It's alright. Let him speak," Heles told the old sentry as she needs to hear the young sentry.

The senior sentry nodded and responded to the young sentry by tilting his head a bit to grant him to speak. The young sentry bowed down to both him and began to say, "Your highness, my apologies for not reporting someone suspicious to the captain to send it to you sooner."

"What do you mean?" Heles questioned sternly. She was upset by the action of the young sentry although he was an honest person which she could tell of. She needs to hear his explanation.

"While I was patrolling alone, I walked past the two ruff people and overheard them saying, 'Kill the target'."

"What," The senior sentry exclaimed surprisedly.

Heles displayed her distressed face at the young sentry's report. She ran through her thoughts about the identity of a target that the somehow assassin was going to kill, but she assumed that she could be herself to be a target, Seruel, or anyone who had a close relationship with the kingdom. Either way, she could be their possible target. She then tried to theorize their identities but she already had someone or a group in her mind: Mafia, someone who hated her, or other threats.

The loud bang of the firing rifle suddenly disturbed the peace, alerting anyone, especially Heles in the area. She and two sentries turned their heads around to see the trace of a shot but also found a white smoke rising in the air and saw three assailants dashed out while coughing. Three other sentry knights, who were distanced away from Heles's position, saw them carrying their weapon.

"Alert the authority now!" The sentry commanded as he and others drew their sword out while one of them nodded and sprinted off to alert nearby.

Present

Callum looked down to see two sentries engaged the attackers to attack. He lifted his head and turned around to see the last gunner pointed his rifles at him. It fired and its bullet went straight at him. He immediately dashed to the right to avoid the bullet. He succeeded but it grazed his left cheek.

Callum then sprinted towards the last gunner who was two blocks away from him. He jumped over the below street to the rooftop and landed. He continued to run while the panicked gunner hastily tried to reload his rifles. He knew he would not get closer to the last gunner for a close kill so he decided to do the same as he did to the previous gunner. While running, he grabbed the grip of his dagger from the deceased gunner and plucked it, spilling the blood out of the wound.

When the last gunner finished reloading, he aimed at Callum and pulled the trigger. Before firing, Callum stopped at his track but unable to do it completely and threw a dagger with his full force and the last gunner later fired.

As both exchanged their fatal attack, Callum's dagger successfully hit the last gunner's throat but his left shoulder was shot. The gunner wobbled and fell down to the street, disappearing in his sight.

Callum fell to his knee behind to support himself from falling while placing his right hand on the wound to prevent his leaking blood. He tried to grit his teeth from crying in pain but grunted. He sighed in relief to stop all three gunners. His eyes averted to his wound when he moved his right hand away. His wound was not as terrible as it was but the pain was still there. Even both of his skills and abilities were at the top-notch, he slowly became rusty after quitting.

Shaking his head, Callum cannot waste his time to be moody at his lack. There was still a remaining attacker on the street who was believed to be engaging the knight due to both clashing sound and shouting and possibly some out in the area. He quickly stood up and took his shortsword out from its sheath. Despite the pain, he was fortunately still able to fight. He looked at two running henchmen from the right. He quickly ran to the eaves and swooped down at them with the pointing of his shortsword for a kill.

Meanwhile, Heles was busy assisting the knights to deal with the attackers despite her being the ruler of her kingdom. Wielding her spear, She deflected the incoming slash from the sword-wielding assailant and thrust to his chest. She took hers out and slashed the other who was carelessly charging at them. She scanned around the area to see a couple of sentries dealing with some attackers. The situation was yet to become worse due to both gun firing and smoke traveling the group of attackers but few new attackers came out from everywhere. She must end it or it would get escalated worse.

"Where's the reinforcement?!" The struggling sentry shouted at any of his fellow sentries.

"Don't worry, they should be here any minute! Protect princess Heles at all costs and hold your ground until they arrive!" The senior sentry shouted back as he slashed the assailant. He admitted he was desperate to stay alive along with other knights as they were the needs for the safety of Heles.

Heles slashed at the dagger-wielding assailant but suddenly heard an angry roar. She turned around to see the charging attacker. She, however, could neither block, deflect, nor counter the charging as the attacker was about to reach her in a second. Is there no way for her to escape and die?

At the blink of an eye, the charging attacker was tackled down by the thrust of Callum's sword. The lifeless body fell to the ground and he took it out from the stabbed wound. His eyes looked behind his back to see the stunned Heles and returned to focus on what was in front of his fighting stance. He easily countered the incoming attack from the sword-wielding assailant and stabbed through the body. He pulled it out when he heard the footstep sound coming towards him and turned his body around along with his sword to slash another assailant.

As he slashed with his shortsword, he suddenly felt a pain in his wounded left shoulder and gritted in pain. He saw a crimson red stain on the part where his wound was and flowing blood down his left hand, dripping on the ground. 'Shit. It's ridiculous! how long I'm going to keep on fighting until the authority gets here!? I'm going to die from losing too much blood!'

"Callum?"

Hearing Heles's voice, Callum turned around to see her with her concerned face. He was dumbfounded that she saw through his face covered with his neck wrap. He wondered if his either lack of clothing, hair, or neck wrap gave his identity. However, he became goofed to laugh a little. He always believed that Heles would entirely forget about him due to a huge gap of a year between him leaving the kingdom and the current state of the kingdom. He foolishly smiled, confusing her.

"Wow, Am I hallucinated to hear you calling my name because you missed me?" Callum asked humorously. He turned around from Heles and kept fighting in front to protect Heles behind.

Heles sighed at Callum's humor while shutting her eyes because she was first convinced by the change of both personality and attitude but it never came true. She admitted she was embarrassed to befriend him when they were children. She first thought about him being arrogant, dignified and prideful as he was a son of Fengus when he and Fengus were first sighted at the palace but it revealed he was truly shy. However, it completely deceived her as he was not shy but aloof with a sense of terrible humor. He did treat anyone in the palace the same as a common person does which may offend some noble people except her and Seruel who found it as bothersome. Nevertheless, she never regretted being friends with him.

Heles opened her eyes and looked at Callum with a smile. "It's nice to see you again, Callum."

Heles admitted she was content to see Callum again after eleven years despite she was currently in an open battle. Although his appearance was changed, his personality did not change but she was hoping for a small change in him. As the battle was ongoing, the table had turned. There was a reinforcement of the group of knights marching towards the battle to assist and help Heles, Callum, and the sentries. Seeing them, some assailants ran off to escape while others were foolish to continue the fight but slowly ended up being cut down.

Even as the battle came to an end, Callum sheathed his shortsword to its sheath on his right and lifted his right hand to place on his wound to stop his blood flowing down. Sighing in relief, he was glad that the situation was taken control but his mouth groaned in pain. He should have been more aware of his limit as he could either have fallen in consciousness or ended dead. His head filled with a little dizziness and his stamina slowly drained. He could find a nearby clinic to treat his wound but his injury prevented him otherwise.

"You're badly hurt, Callum," Heles said with her concerned tone. She was worried by looking at the slowly expanding blood-stained on Callum's shirt and the unceasing dripping of his blood on his left arm. She wanted to question his sudden debate before rebuking him for his action when her question was answered, but she first needs to take him to an infirmary. "Let me lead you to the infirmary to treat your wound."

"Thank you, your highness," Callum said with a smile despite the loss of his blood.

"You never addressed me by my title all the time but why are you doing this now?" Heles questioned raising her eyebrow

"No reason," Callum denied Heles's question with a smile.

Heles sighed, feeling that she would get an answer from Callum about her question and forcing him to answer would be a bad decision. However, she noticed his shoulder wound, reminding her to take him to the infirmary at once.

"Let's hurry to the infirmary, Callum."

Callum nodded with a smile and so he and Heles both began to walk together out of the open area. While they were walking, Callum began to believe in fate which might be responsible for drawing him and her together in a tough situation. However, he shrugged to forget his belief as it was dumb but he was glad to come to face to face with her. He could catch up with the previous event that he missed by asking her or Seruel when he was fully recovered. Right now, he had to enjoy a quiet walking with her but not noticing her smiling.

Characteristics

Name: Callum

Age: 26

Gender: Male

Hair Color: Brown

Eyes Color: Yellow

Race: Human

Hobbies: Free-running, Exploring the Castle

Like: Being alone in a night

Dislike: Boredom, Formal Clothing, Carriages

Affiliation: Irestill Kingdom

Weapon: Shortsword (main), Dagger (sub)

Info: Callum is once both assassin and mercenary, working for any kingdom across the skydom but he later quit under his circumstance the previous years. Now, he returned his home island, Alster Island, and became the bodyguard of the current ruler of Irestill Kingdom, Heles. Before all of this happened, he was the son of a proud knight, Fengus, who served the last king, Conor.

Extra Notes

This story is manageable but there are many flaws in my story that I knew. Many of Granblue's characters are kind of out of their character (OOC) because I tried to write their characters that I knew by watching and reading their fate story including the lore, which is important to the game in my opinion. Nevertheless, I hope it was a good story for you.

So, What do you think?

See you next time.